Police: 115 kgs of drugs found on boat crashed on reef

Maldives Police Service has said that so far 115 kilograms of drugs that belonged the vessel that washed up to the nearby islands after crashing on the reef of Haa Alifu Innafinolhu on Wednesday.

Police made the remarks at the press conference at Iskandharu Koshi today held to inform the public on the Police-MNDF joint operation.

Information Officer of the Maldives Police Service, Superintendent Ahmed Shifan, said that the drugs found so far were washed up on five different islands. But with the attempt to burn down the vessel, it is difficult to say the exact amount of drugs the vessel was carrying.

Superintendent Shifan said that the eight crewmen of the boat are currently in police custody and they are one Pakistani national and seven Iranian nationals. And the tests so far have them all positive to different narcotic drugs.

MNDF responded to the allegations made by some that say that this was not the first visit of the boat to the Maldives. The Principal Director of Coast Guard, Mohamed Saleem said that the vessel has not entered the Maldives before with any authorization and it has not been picked up on radar while in Maldivian territory illegally.

Saleem said that when it was first reported by fishermen that the vessel had crashed on a reef, the first on the scene was a sea ambulance from Haa Alifu Hoarafushi. And when the crew of the drug boat saw the uniform officers, they set a fire to the vessel and jumped into the sea with life jackets according to the attending officers.

And with behaviour being suspicious, they were reported to the Police.